TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

Tinder: A Study of the Apps Affordances and General Perceptions

Felicia Garcia
Texas Tech University

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

Online dating has grown in the past few years, and more and more adults
are taking to the worldwide web to find a partner. Tinder, a dating app, was
brought to life when creators realized, that even with all the networks we have
at our disposal, the ways in which we meet new people were boring, outdated,
and filled with barriers (Tinder, 2014). In the quest to revolutionize the way
people meet new people, Tinder has evolved into a widely-known social
platform with over 50 million users, and a reported 1 billion swipes and 12
million matches per day (Shontell, 2014).
What is Tinder?
Tinder is a social platform that is exclusive to a mobile application.
Whether users create a free account or pay for premium services, the app allows
one to browse through photos of people (of the opposite gender, with the same
sexual preference, or both) who are also Tinder users and are within 1-100 miles
of the person browsing. Photos and very short descriptors are presented to a
user who then has the option to like or nope a person by swiping right or
left, respectively. Users are only allowed to interact with one another if they are
a match, meaning that they have both swiped right on each others profiles.
Unless a premium user, a user cannot go back and swipe in the opposite
direction if they should change their mind. The platform allows for a space to
communicate without providing personal information such as social media

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

profile information or contact information, although a user does have the option
to connect to other social media accounts and display such information.
Bordewijk and Van Kaams (1986) four definable information traffic
patterns offer an agreeable illustration of Tinders information traffic flow and
functionality as a multi-pattern service.
Registration: the information centre has the function of collecting information
from the consumer.
After the initial download of the app, a prospective Tinder user begins
with the registration of his/her personal information including age, gender, and
location. The user offers information to the technology.
Allocution: the information centre decides what information is disseminated to
an information consumer.
Tinder does not use an algorithm, unlike most dating sites, to create the
pool of potential matches; however, Tinder will only display people in the same
geographic area as the user.
Consultation: the information center has an infinite amount of information but
only offers what the consumer requests.
An individual, unless a premium user, cannot choose the location of
people to browse from but the user does have the power to filter the pool of
people by specifying the age, gender, and relative distance of the people that

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

he/she is interested in seeing displayed on the application. Additionally, the

user is given the option to swipe right or left to either like (approve) or nope
(disapprove) the individuals that the app presents as potential matches.
Conversation: information flow between individual consumers
Tinder aims to ultimately serve as a medium for interaction between two
people who have swiped right in mutual approval. For the previous three traffic
pattern flows, interaction occurs between computer and person, whereas,
conversation is merely computer-mediated interaction between two people.
.
Methodology
Online dating is a different ballgame. Research has proven that ethos is a
large concern and limits what is stated on online profiles in online dating
(Manning, 2013) but what about Tinder where visuals dominate? This brief study
is designed to look at how the apps structure, similar to an online dating site in
nature, but differentiated by the absence of a complex algorithm to create
matches, contributes to how users and nonusers perceive the purpose of the
application.
Furthermore, while sexual scripts may be established for more traditional
dating (Emmers-Sommer et al., 2010) and possibly online dating, Tinder is
uncharted territory. Sexual scripts are purposed to act as a blueprint for

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

stereotypical behaviors in specific social situations (Abelson, 1981). What is the

sexual script for Tinder and are there any gender differences?
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) allows for selective selfrepresentation; there is a tension between how a user hopes to present
themselves and the reality of who they really are (Toma & Hancock, 2010). Does
the CMC that Tinder offers act more as a remedy to the tension or as yet
another limitation to computer-mediated interaction? In other words, does the
fact that Tinder doesnt use an algorithm account for more or less deception?
Where is one more his/her true self cyberspace or reality? And what does this
mean for deception?
Three focus groups were held to investigate user motivations, and the
overall perception of the dating app Tinder, based on its affordances. The 15
total participants nine females, five males, and one person who identified as a
transgender person were all from the same location and ranged in age
between 20 and 36 years. Each of the three guided-discussions was followed by
a questionnaire to retrieve individuals demographic information, dating status,
and to gauge the familiarity with and perception of Tinder.
Results
Tinder is easily recognized as one of the fastest growing and most
popular apps, however the focus group and questionnaire revealed some key

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

insights about the dating app that imply theres more to know about the app
than what numbers reflect.
A stigma is attached to the use of Tinder.
According to a 2014 NY Times article written by Nick Bilton, a journalist who
visited with the Tinder team, the app is nearing 50 million users. However, with
all its popularity, there still seems to be a stigma attached to online dating. The
groups that were interviewed were encouraged to participate in open
conversation about the Tinder app, however, for one group there was initially
some hesitation to talk about individual Tinder use, and when the participants
who had used the app before revealed that they had, they were not particularly
open to offering much detail. In general, the conversation flourished more when
the discussion was about the app in a general sense and not about romantic
experiences. Personal experiences were talked about quite a bit, but were
mostly negative or of a platonic nature. For example, participants of one group
mentioned that genuine friendships had evolved from use of the app. Friendship
may not have always been the intended outcome, but for participants Felicia
and Tiffany, Tinder certainly helped them to meet new people.
I've met so many good friends off of Tinder that I mean... I've met a lot of
people off of Tinder but theyve all become really really good friends of
mine. Tiffany

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

Particularly, Felicia, the transgender participant, has no intention of

progressing the virtual connections that she has made beyond a computermediated relationship: one of the sweetest people Ive met Ive talked to.. Ive
never actually met in person.. hes just a really sweet guyI mean I personally
do not have any interest to meet him but hes really sweet and you know.. good
conversationalist.
In one group, the participants didnt hesitate to explicitly admit that Tinder
has a stigma attached to its use. Yonce, a 22-year-old woman that developed a
relationship with her ex-boyfriend online, admitted that online dating leads to
some shame. Although she doesnt attribute the failure of her former
relationship to online dating, she did comment that even if [hooking up is] not
your intention, thats the stigma that comes with it.. Katie, from another group,
mentioned that her brother is currently engaged to a woman he met on Tinder,
but her brother and his fianc refuse to tell anyone, especially Katies parents,
because they are embarrassed to admit that they met on Tinder.
It seems that while the large number of users indicates social progress
towards acceptance of the online dating culture, the perception of Tinder can
be less than positive.
theres just kind of like a funny irony there, that no one wants to use
dating apps and s**t, and then were all on Tinder Katie

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

Tinder is perceived as a hookup site.

It can be argued that Tinder functions just like any other social networking
app with pictures, words, and clicks but could it be that the context of those
pictures, words, and clicks is what contributes most to Tinders reputation as the
hookup site?
Tinder has established itself as an app that mimics real life,
differentiating it from other online dating sites that use an algorithm to create
matches.
The questionnaires revealed that the participants varied in their responses
to how strongly they disagree or agree with the idea that dating apps provide a
good way of developing emotionally supportive relationships and the verbal
discussions supported the responses. However the participants may feel about
the emotional quality of dating apps in a general sense, all three groups were
quick to classify Tinder as a hookup site. Participant Tiffany went so far as to
express her disappointment with the perceived function of the app: thats
whats stupid about this appthis app was not supposed to be made for hook
ups, this was supposed to be to meet people andfor potential relationships
and people have twisted to it now its a hook up site. Another participant,
Yonce, said, Even if thats not really what you want, thats what its known for,
for hookups. Julian, a participant who initially became a Tinder user to find

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

friends after moving to a new city said, For me I see it as just a hookup site so
youre not looking for a relationship. This kind of reputation may not be
exclusive to Tinder, but the participants overwhelmingly agree that Tinder is
used to find a sexual partner above anything else.
One group compared the app to dating site Match.com. Match.com is a
paid online dating service that uses a patented algorithm to connect potential
matches.
Tiffany: Tinder is supposed to be a Match.com for college students..
because no
one can afford Match.com when you are in college. No one wants to do
that.
Nicole: Exactly.. .And you dont have to go through answer all those
questions
you can just put what you want and click on who you want to be with.
Most participants agree that the app is a straight-to-the-point app. Female
participant Cassidy said that, for a time in my bio it was like if you wanna hook
up then you might as well swipe left because Im not about that. On the other
hand, Tiffany said that shes come across bios with the exact opposite sentiment
some of the guys bios say that like if youre not interested in [hooking up]..
this is all I want.

TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

This made for an interesting observation. Both sexes bypassed the traditional
purpose of the bio (to provide personal information) and instead used it to
clearly state his/her completely different intentions.
It may not always be the case, but according to all three groups, there is a
divide between genders when it comes to use of the app. Callie, a woman who
does not have a Tinder account herself but who considers herself familiar
through secondhand experiences noted that her male friends, try lines on girls
and see how far they can push them in the conversation but all of the responses
Ive seen [the girls] get really offended because they are looking for relationships
and not to just hook up. Furthermore, David, a participant who himself claims
to have used Tinder to find a relationship recognizes that, girls are looking for a
relationship more thanguys are. Jackson, an older male participant, said of
his own intentions, I dont take Tinder seriously so you know I meet people to
meet people because I like meeting different people but I personally dont hope
to meet my future wife or girlfriend on Tinder. Although the gender differences
might follow social expectation women are looking for a relationship, men are
looking for sex Kate made an interesting comment about womens role in
dating when she said that Tinder kind of allows you to control your approach to
guys, traditionally girls have not been the ones who are supposed to approach

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TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

the guy, so this is a reversal of that. Contradictory to having control, it was

mentioned that men are praised for using the app while women are shamed.
Tiffany: So for like guys if they tell their friends like oh
great.. you got a hook up.. its like way to go man.. but for a girl..
Felicia: Slut shaming
Tiffany: Exactly .. we are viewed as sluts when we are on a dating app
because
we are not supposed to be on a dating app if you think about it
Additionally, after screening Tinders newest advertisement that displayed on its
website, two participants, Yonce and Richard verbally recognized the ad as a
ploy of offset the ratio of females to males. The other participants agreed with
them or with Richard who insisted that the ad was to emphasize that the most
attractive of girls are on Tinder now. Gerardo, a participant who occasionally
uses the app feels that the ad targets girls because girls are really like gullible
and they think that all the guys just want to be friends; he feels that the
promotional video is a lie. The lie, he says, is that all people on Tinder are
good looking. This brings up the most agreed upon and recurring theme of the
discussions: deception.
Deception is a concern.

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TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

The group discussions revealed that deception is a concern for all

participants. Tinders functionality and success rests on the adage, a picture is
worth a thousand words, but what if the picture is a lie?
Yonce made an interesting observation when she said that reality and the
online sphere are two different worlds and [we] live in both of them. If we
approach the online world as a pseudo community, then its arguable that
projected sincerity is going to play a large role (Beniger, 1987).
The term catfishing was popular among the groups. According to the top
definition on Urban Dictionary (2013), the term is defined as the phenomenon
of internet predators that fabricate online identities and entire social circles to
trick people into emotional/romantic relationships (over a long period of time).
Catfishing was coined after a documentary was released in 2010 in which a
mans experience with online deception is chronicled (IMDB, 2010). While all
participants were concerned with the possibility of dishonesty, the female
participants noted issues of safety more than the males. Michelle expressed that
she is always terrified of meeting somebody and then it's not safe. Katie
voiced a similar concern with Tinder you have to be brutally honest with the
fact that most people are looking for booty and sometimes those people are
really freaky people that you dont want to go near ever again after meeting
them the first time. The fear isnt just hypothetical, however. Tarna did not have

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TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

a dangerous experience but she feels that she was deceived by a guy that she
decided to meet in person. He lied about where he was from and it really
bothered Tarna.
On the other hand, the male participants were just as affected by
deception but worried less about safety and more about attractiveness and
whether a match was with a real person or not.
Gerardo explained that the premium users are more likely to be genuine
profiles because they are paid for, whereas, the fake profiles are in abundance
because there is no fee. Jackson: talking about catfishing.. there were a couple
of very attractive ladies who were not attractive in real life. A few of the males
expressed being duped by spambots. Bill explains spambots as fake, basically
like spam or I dont know what, but its just like theyre not real people, just
pictures of whoever. Gerardo spoke of his frustrations with spambots as well.
He is initially excited that hes matched with a pretty girl but is very
disappointed when he discovers that the spambot will just redirect him to
another website.
The differences in the way that the two genders considered deception
were consistent across all groups. Callie discussed two situations, at different
times in the focus group, where a friend was deceived on Tinder. Her male
friend reported disappointment in the appearance of the girl he was talking to

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TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

over Tinder after a face-to-face meeting. Callies female friend instead reported
disappointment after she found out that everything on his profile was a lie.
Deception is equally disappointing for both genders, however verbal deception
seems to affect the female participants the most, and visual deception affects
the male participants the most. Other than mutual friends and Facebook
stalking, there doesnt seem to be a surefire way to verify the authenticity of a
person. Not even premium users are immune to deception.

Discussion
Based on the results of the study, Tinders intended affordances easy,
organic computer-mediated communication make for a dating app that allows
users a quick and simple way to connect with one another. However, the ability
to connect quickly and cut-to-the-chase may have earned the app its reputation
as the prime platform for hookup culture. Furthermore, the emphasis on visuals
and absence of an algorithm to determine matches for users has made it
exceptionally easy for deception to occur. It might benefit Tinder to find a way
to verify users to increase the authenticity of the communication experience
facilitated by the app.
Gender differences in motivation for use may follow traditional sexual
scripts (Emmers-Sommer et al., 2010) but this study implies that a new sexual

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TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

script may need to be developed to better suit the online dating scene, as
women are perceived to acquire more control in relationship dynamics online
than in a traditional setting.
Limitations and Future Research
This study only focused on a small number of people who were all from
the same region and of only two races. While some key insights were found, the
qualitative data is not enough to make any major generalizations. Considering
other social media, Tinder is still in its infancy. Perhaps further research can
explore the differences and similarities between Tinder dating and the more
traditional face-to-face dating. How do identity narratives affect selective selfrepresentation on Tinder? Where is one his/her truest self? Reality or
cyberspace?

References
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Age-Old
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TINDER: A STUDY OF THE APPS AFFORDANCES AND GENERAL PERCEPTIONS

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